US STOCKS-Wall St to drop at open on global economic worries

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a
sharply lower open, putting equities on track to extend a
three-day drop, as worries over weak economies globally
continued to pressure commodities and as U.S. retail sales for
December fell short of expectations.

Copper touched its lowest since July 2009 and were
last down 5 percent at $5,570 a tonne after the World Bank cut
its global forecast for economic growth in 2015 and next year.
Shares of Freeport McMoRan Inc lost 8 percent to $19.36
before the opening bell.

Brent crude fell to a low of $45.59 before easing to
trade down 0.7 percent to $46.26, while U.S. crude was
off 0.9 percent at $45.49 after falling as low as $45.01. The
Energy Information Administration's oil inventory report is due
at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).

Consumer spending in December disappointed, as core retail
sales fell 0.4 percent, short of expectations calling for a 0.4
percent increase and the 0.6 percent rise in the prior month.

"The futures weren't looking too good and that retail report
didn't do it any good, it took a big nosedive after that," said
Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives
for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

"Yesterday it was amazing because it started out so strong
and ended up on a very sour note, and we just now see a
continuation of that. It doesn't look like it's going to be a
pretty day at this point."

Companies were expected to show fourth-quarter earnings
growth of 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson
Reuters data, down from 11.2 percent growth forecast on Oct. 1.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday in a volatile session,
weighed by the energy and materials sectors, giving the
benchmark S&P index its third straight declining session
and eighth drop in 10. The S&P is down 3.2 percent from its last
record high on Dec. 29.

Other data showed U.S. import prices recorded their biggest
drop in six years in December as the cost of petroleum plunged.

A report on business inventories was scheduled for 10 a.m.

Tesla Motors Inc dropped 9.3 percent to $185.34
before the opening bell after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk
said the company might not be profitable until 2020.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and
Jeffrey Benkoe)